[Reposting previous response]
I can’t tell you what’s okay for you, but I can tell you that I am interested in the Columbine shooting and what led up to it.
One reason is that I have always taken an interest in sniper incidents and mass shootings because of the terrible randomness of them for the victims who were not intended targets, and the stark reminder that you never know what may be heading your way.
Another is what was in the minds of the perpetrators and what, if anything, could have been done beforehand to prevent the event.
I was especially interested in Columbine because at that time I had a youngster who was having problems of depression, alienation, etc. I was trying like everything to find the right kind of help for him, and I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it was and how unsuccessful. Finding anyone who can work therapeutically with a teenager—and recognize serious signs of trouble in a secretive kid who is really smart and knows exactly how to tell people what they want to hear—is more of a challenge than many of us can match.
When I saw all those self-righteous newspaper columnists after Columbine writing things like “Where were the parents? Couldn’t they see that something was wrong? Why didn’t they get help?” I wanted to shake them and shout, “Oh, yeah? Why don’t you try it?”
At the same time, trying to identify and lock up everybody who admits to having had a violent fantasy at one time or another—and who hasn’t?—is tantamount to letting the Thought Police run roughshod over the populace.